Sleeping With The Murderer

After the divorce, I married the other woman. She was warm. She kept the whole house running. She made me feel needed. My wife never did. The only catch was her kid.

A son, four years old, not mine. That was fine. I'd told her I loved her. I'd love her son too. My ex got a $300 check on the first of every month. That was the entire relationship.

Then one night I walked into my buddy's place and saw a hanging egg chair that used to be mine.

Chapter 1 "Where the hell did you get this?" Nate leaned out of the kitchen. "Oh, that? Facebook Marketplace." I walked over and took a real look at it.

Nothing special about the chair. You can find the same one online all day. Except for one thing.

Someone had stitched a strip of soft cloth inside the hood, right where the back of your head hits.

I used to sit out on the balcony for hours playing games, griping that the frame dug into my skull.

Rowan sewed me a patch exactly like that one. "Send me the link." "Sure, I'll dig it up after dinner. Seller's got a ton of other furniture listed too." My hand stopped on the rope.

A ton of other furniture? I left her sixty percent of everything in the divorce. Six months. There was no reason for her to need money. Unless. I looked up at Nate.

Was she using my own friend to get at the life I had now? "Found the link. Want me to text it?" "Don't bother." I straightened up. "It just looked familiar.

Up close it's actually kind of ugly." Nate stopped moving for half a second. "Let's eat." It was his birthday. He'd had the guys over. He'd been at it since morning.

Eight different things on that table by the time we sat down. "I'm just saying, man, you're not getting any younger.

You need somebody taking care of you." Somebody floated it halfway through the meal. Nate knocked back half his beer. "Nah. You guys know my situation.

No point wasting a good woman's time." The table went quiet. Nate has a low sperm count. They caught it in the fertility panel before his wedding. Low count means IVF.

The way he put it, he wasn't going to put an innocent woman through that because of him. So the two of them ended it. No fighting, no mess. "Man, life is not fair.

Some guys can't find one woman and some guys get two at—" Every head at the table turned toward me. I set my glass down harder than I needed to. "Knock it off.

That joke stays between us. When Vivi's around, all of you keep your mouths shut. She's sensitive about it." Somebody snorted. I looked over.

It was Nate. "Here." He lifted his glass. "To making it out of group play. We take the next one too." Whatever I was about to say died in my throat.

Nobody really enjoyed that dinner. My phone started buzzing in my pocket and wouldn't stop. I made myself walk out to the balcony before I answered. "Do you know what time it is?

Do you remember what you promised me before you left?" "Heading back now. You want anything?

I'll pick it up." Some of the heat went out of her voice. "Five pounds of wings from Ray's. I'm starving." "You got it. Leaving now." I pushed the balcony door open.

The guys were still going. "Look, worst case we set you up with somebody who's got a kid." "Yeah, you spend enough time with them, it's the same thing.

Right, Cole?" I cleared my throat. "Something came up. I'm gonna head out.

See you Wednesday for the game." "Hey, Cole." One of them stopped me. "You still have your ex's number?" My hand froze on my shoe. "Who?" Chapter 2 "The guys were kicking around the idea of setting your ex up with Nate.

That work for you?" My head went blank. "No. She's got her hands full with the kid. And when we signed the papers she promised me she wouldn't remarry.

That's the only reason she got the house. Don't bring it up again." "No need." Nate stood up. "I already have Rowan's number.

We can handle it ourselves." Sound dropped out of the room. Rowan. Not your ex. Rowan. "You have what?" Our parents set us up, Rowan and me. It went the way those stories always go.

Married. Bought a house. Had a kid. Then the same day on repeat for years. I never thought there was love between us. Seven years, and we never had a real fight.

Never even raised our voices. She could absorb anything. My parents, the relatives, the neighbors, my worst friends. She handled all of them and made it look like nothing.

She never sucked up to anybody. Never performed. Even spending my money, she carried herself like she didn't owe anyone an explanation. Flat. Dull.

Like I could disappear out of her world and not one thing in it would move. People work hard so they can have the life they used to lie awake picturing.

That includes the woman lying next to you. Otherwise what's the difference between a wife and a roommate you stopped noticing? Then I met Vivi at a client dinner.

She was the account rep the vendor sent over. Halfway through, I went to the restroom for some air. Somebody in the hallway was on the phone. "Ms.

Delacroix, I'm almost done, I promise. I'll be there for Max in twenty minutes. Please don't be upset." The door opened.

Vivi stood there with the phone still against her ear, caught. "Everything okay?" She shook her head fast. "It's fine, it's fine. I'll get somebody to grab him.

Let's keep going." I checked the time. Almost nine. "Let's call it here. Your kid comes first." She dropped her head. "Thank you, Mr.

Bannister." When it broke up I pulled out of the parking garage into rain. She had no umbrella. She was standing at the curb getting soaked, waving at cars that didn't stop.

I rolled the window down. "Get in. I'll take you." It didn't take long to learn she was a widow raising a kid alone. Her son was four. One year younger than my daughter, Nora.

And she carried the whole thing by herself. There's always a moment where you catch yourself measuring some other woman against your wife. Rowan married me straight out of school.

Never worked a day. So of course she had no idea what the world actually does to people.

There's a movie about a guy who walks out on his gorgeous stayathome wife for a plain, older divorcée. Nobody could figure out why. Here's my read on it.

At work you stop seeing a person's face. You start respecting what they can do. Home is where a person's flaws get put under a magnifying glass. Every day is small, stupid stuff.

Year after year of it, and whatever edge she used to have is buried under the pile. So Vivi walked in like somebody struck a match in a dark room.

After that I dressed for work like it mattered. I counted hours until I'd see her. And I covered my tracks with Rowan. Beautifully.

I'd even surprise her with something now and then. Yeah. That's the thing women call guilt. If life had just kept going like that, I'd never have thought anything was wrong.

Chapter 3 What finally did it was the flu. We ran into each other at St. Anne's Children's Hospital. I had Vivi's son on my hip. Rowan had our daughter on hers.

Our eyes met and the whole hallway went still. Rowan's face emptied out for a second. Then she turned and walked. Vivi grabbed my sleeve. "Cole, I can explain it to her.

Go after her. Go, now!" I didn't move. I pulled the boy in tighter. "There's nothing to explain." If the day was coming anyway, better she started living with it now.

I'd take care of the kids. She could go on being a kept woman. Nothing about her life had to change. It was late when I got home. Rowan had left one lamp on in the living room.

She heard the door and waved me over. "Come sit." Something about it put my back up. "It's exactly what it looked like. There's nothing to explain." The light was bad.

I couldn't read her face. "You're overthinking it." Her voice stayed level. "We're adults. We're responsible for what we do. This is the settlement.

Read it, and if it's fine, sign it." "The what?" "The divorce." I laughed in her face. "Do you hear yourself? You're a housewife. No job, no income.

What gives you the standing to talk to me about a divorce?" Rowan leaned back in the chair. The corner of her mouth moved. "You have both.

I'll just take some of yours." I had nothing for that. She opened the folder, unhurried. Photos were tucked inside.

Me and Vivi, close enough that nobody would need a caption. "Sign tonight and I take sixty percent and I don't investigate you.

Drag it out and I'll have to make myself take seventy, and every coworker and boss you have gets to witness this great love of yours.

Take your time." My fist closed until the knuckles ached.

Seven years of a woman who never pushed back once, and this was what had been sitting across the table from me. "What about custody?" "Whatever you want." She held the pen out. "I can have more kids.

Take her or don't, it's the same to me." "Say that again." "I said I can have more. You keep our daughter. One of each. The perfect little family.

Everybody wins." The pen hit the floor. "You want sixty percent of my money to hand to some other man? You're out of your mind. I cheated. That's it.

I never did any actual damage to this family. We don't have to get divorced at all.

Let's see which one of us can outlast the other." "Is that right?" She pulled a business card out of her bag and slid it across the table. "No damage to the family.

So we're talking about damage to the company instead. This Vivi of yours is your vendor's account rep. The two of you together.

You feel good about what the board does with that?" The air went cold all the way down my throat. I finally looked at the woman in front of me. No job. No income.

Nothing the world bothered to count. And she had been three moves ahead the entire time. She was right. At a company like mine that isn't an HR writeup.

That's a conflictofinterest violation. If it reached compliance, best case they demoted me. Worst case they walked me out and it followed my name for good. Then Rowan spoke again.

Chapter 4 "I take the house. I take the car. Sixty percent of the cash accounts. Print every statement in the next three days. Let's both be honest here.

If it actually comes to an investigation, you lose a lot more than that." I shut my eyes and pulled in a long breath. "You can have the money. But you don't remarry.

My daughter is not getting a stepdad. You've seen the same news I have.

Nobody can tell you what a stepfather turns into." "Fine." "Then we're done." She stood and pulled the front door open. "As of right now, you're free." I'll be honest.

From the second I signed to the second I walked out, none of it was landing. I parked under Vivi's building and smoked through the whole night.

The sky was going gray at the edges before it finally hit me. There was no love between me and Rowan. Which meant Vivi showing up wasn't a disaster for her.

It was the opening she'd been waiting on. Damn it. Did I even love Vivi? I didn't know.

I didn't know whether the love I'd been chasing was worth everything I'd spent a decade building. Some of the fog burned off. Money and love.

One of those weighs a hell of a lot more. I was going to turn the car around. I was going to tell Rowan I'd cut Vivi off clean and come home. True love? Screw that.

I wanted my money. I'd just started the engine when somebody knocked on the passenger window. Vivi. "You're early today. Max, say thank you to Mr.

Bannister." Everything I'd come to say went back down. I never got a word out. I drove the kid to school on autopilot. Then Vivi handed me a pregnancy test. "Cole.

I'm pregnant." "What?" "We were… we were always careful